Tomm Moore

Tomm Moore
Moore presenting Song of the Sea in December 2014
Born	Thomas Moore (1977-01-07) 7 January 1977 (age 40) Newry, Northern Ireland
Education	St Kieran's College
Alma mater	Ballyfermot College of Further Education
Occupation	Film director, film producer, illustrator, screenwriter, character designer
Years active	1998–present

Thomas "Tomm" Moore (born January 7, 1977) is an Irish filmmaker, animator, illustrator and comics artist. He is co-founder of Cartoon Saloon, an animation studio and production company, based in Kilkenny, Ireland. His first two feature films, The Secret of Kells (2009) and Song of the Sea (2014), have received critical acclaim and were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.

Moore, the eldest of four children, was born in Newry, County Down, Northern Ireland. At an early age he moved, with his parents, to Kilkenny in the Republic of Ireland where his father, Patrick, worked as an engineer. During his early to mid teens, he joined Young Irish Film Makers in Kilkenny, where he grew his knowledge and passion for film and animation. After leaving St Kieran's College secondary school, he studied classical animation at Ballyfermot College of Further Education in Dublin.

During his final year at Ballyfermot in 1998, Moore co-founded the Cartoon Saloon animation studio with Paul Young and Nora Twomey. Initially they set up studio alongside Moore's alma mater Young Irish Film Makers, but the studio soon outgrew the premises. The studio created the television series Skunk Fu!.

Moore's first animated feature film, which he co-directed with Nora Twomey, is The Secret of Kells (2009), written by Fabrice Ziolkowski from a story by Moore and Aidan Harte. It is a co-production by the Cartoon Saloon, Les Armateurs, Vivi Film and France 2 Cinéma. The film is a hand-drawn animation, set in 9th century Ireland, and partially based on and inspired by early Christian history and legend. It premiered on 8 February 2009, at the Berlin International Film Festival. It went into wide release in Belgium and France on 11 February, and in the Republic of Ireland on 3 March. On 2 February 2010, it was announced that the film had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature Film.